Once Upon A Time by Henry Mills
by OnceForeverXylo
Summary: Throughout season 7 we keep hearing about the book that Henry wrote, which contains all the stories of the storybrooke characters. This is it. Or rather a rough estimation of what it might be like. I'll also be writing vignettes of different characters from S7 interracting with the book and the stories within it.
1. The Queen In The Snow

Once upon a time in a castle that dreams were made of there was a princess named Snow White. She was small, with raven hair and a complexion as fresh white as fallen snow. With this considered she was by the standards of most of the world at that time a rare sort of beauty and she held more than just physical fairness, instead her soul was pure. When she cried the whole kingdom sobbed with her and when she smiled even the hardest of hearts were drenched in the warmth of summer. This happiness wasn't to last however.  
Her father was the reason for this. He was a monarch bedecked in majesty, with all the wisdom a king could want. Two things thing he lacked however were immortality and a wife. He had one years ago when Snow was first born who shared many of her looks, but she quickly sickened and passed away leaving a hole in his kingdom and his heart. The princess and her father were left distraught by her loss, emptiness eating away at them little by little, even if they didn't wish to admit it to each other or themselves

One day however another queen was thrust into their lives, by fate or by force it was yet to be discerned. Out riding through the green rolling fields Snow's horse began to buck and whinny then it galloped uncontrollably to a clearing, by this time the poor princess was screaming for help to anyone who would listen. But no assistance had come. That was until a woman in a long blue dress came cantering across to her, and reached out to drag her from her mount.  
The princess crumpled appreciatively into the arms of the stranger and told her in tones of incredibly high praise that this stranger had saved her life. Being so thrilled with the escapades of the lady Snow brought her back to the castle. Where her father showered her with even more thanks.

In time the princess and Regina became friends, and then almost like family. Snow would tell Regina all sorts of things, the locations of special trinkets she'd left for the wood-sprites and what presents she had acquired for her father for his birthday. In turn the older woman felt safe to tell _her_ things as well. She told how the king wished to marry her and all sorts of tiny pieces of gossip. It all went swimmingly until the day she told Snow that her heart belonged to a commoner.

Daniel (for that was his name) was a stable boy with a sweet and tender heart who loved Regina with all of it. Every time he laid eyes upon his love a great feeling of hope swelled within him, that maybe one day he would find a way to escape the manure and hay. She, being sweet and pure of heart, much like her adopted daughter refused to quash this, even when she first began to move in royal circles.

It was unfortunate then that she had brought her mother with her, for Cora was a woman of an iron will and a cold heart, previously a miller's daughter who had fought tooth and nail to get to where she was. Now she was a woman that hid all her actions behind one pretense, that she was doing everything for her daughter.  
It was in this way that she wormed her way into the mind of Snow White. Who believed her to be sincere. Around her Cora put on a voice of grandmotherly devotion and tricked the princess into confessing all sorts of things and she even divulged the existence of this common lover her beloved daughter had ferreted away in the lands around the castle.

At this the miller's daughter's heart turned fiery red with rage, and she felt resentment grow not only for the knave but also for her daughter with every passing second.  
She stole into the stables and ripped out his kind heart, crushing it between her fingers leaving Regina distraught.  
And this we believe is the origin of the Evil Queen, For she took the resentment and surpressed it, letting it ferment inside for years upon years until it turned her cruel and horrid.


	2. Regina reads

**Taking place around s7 ep6, could potentially be canon divergent if only by accident.**

It's a commonly held belief that too much knowledge is a bad thing, and as Regina had looked at Henry or rather the version of Henry who lived in Hyperion Heights now she believed it. Nothing so much as a single glint of recognition was visible in his face which was filling her heart with dread, weighing it down so as it sunk to the pit of her stomach and rested there like a brick. This wasn't unusual though and added up with all of the other grievances and heartbreak that had shook her life, Daniel's death then Robin's and even her father's she doubted weather there was much of her heart left which wasn't already horribly scarred.

Another thing that made her stomach hurt was the thought that she couldn't simply reach out and tell him who she was. It made her sick to think that nothing she could say to him would sound sane. If she told him she was his mother he'd be ragged with disbelief just as much as if she said she was the E _vil Queen_ from his novel.

And on the topic of the book _"why the hell did I tell him I'd read it?"_ she thought even as the words dribbled clumsily out of her mouth. When he smiled and nodded, proud of his own achievement for once though she thought maybe it had been the right thing to say and so was committed to it.

After Henry had left she whipped her smartphone out of her pocket, and pulled up Amazon. It took a single search of Henry Mills to see the book. Whoever designed it must really have cared about creating an aesthetically pleasing object! The cover was lovely, minimalist. It was white with a tree in the centre and a simple font depicting the title. Once Upon A Time - A collection of Fairy-tales by H. Mills

A smile tugged up Regina's lips ' _good job kid'_ she thought as she pressed order, not really taking much consideration of the price. Then, shoving her phone back into her pocket she got off the bench and began walking back to the bar.

It was of course empty when she got there, who wanted to drink on a Thursday? Certainly not any of the ordinary people around her. She however knocked back what must have been ten or even twenty shots of warm malt whiskey before the effects took hold, her vision began to blur and she subsequently slumped upstairs. She'd developed a taste for it, if not in mind then at least in body. That was another thing she'd have to do, she thought as she peeled off her skinny jeans, t-shirt and flowery high heels, continue to dress like Roni. Any extreme change in dress sense would be the talk of the town, even if she felt a little alien without her usual smarter Mayoral attire.  
**

The following days, in between ordering the book and it arriving was the tensest Regina had probably ever felt. Every knock on the door and every tall stranger who arrived in the bar of an evening made her twitch and jump out of her skin, just in case it was her adopted son come to discuss his work. Somewhat luckily he never did come so she simply had to look silly whenever the door was opened, staring out, like a deer caught in the headlights. Then the day it did come was pretty similar. Her heart pounded at the sound of the door being knocked briskly by a firm fist, with this she tumbled into the hall to open it. It revealed a man of around 21 who held out her purchase like some kind of holy text. She promptly grabbed it out of his hands, then smiled, forgetting to thank him she only nodded her head and slammed the door in his face.

Only to push it slightly ajar smile and say "thanks" when she remembered. The guy stood perplexed for a moment and then disappeared, sprinting back to his UPS van for another delivery.

By then Regina didn't care of course and had already ran around the bar herself trying to find somewhere comfortable, and private to sit.

Settling on a booth in the corner she plonked the package down and tore it open with trembling fingers. There it was, exactly as she'd seen on the internet. She started of by lifting the front cover and leafing through the pages making them flutter noisily. She landed on a title page and grabbed the page to stop herself from losing it.  
On the page was a familiar name, embossed in gold. "Snow White" she mouthed, recognising it immediately. She then let her eyes scan the page and was amazed at her story all over again but more specifically how well Henry told it. She didn't remember ever having told him what had happened to her back in the enchanted forest. Maybe Emma had at some point during their lives together though as a bedtime story or something? Or Snow, or maybe he was just a psychic? Then she remembered. The kid was the author! She laughed thinking about how well the two Henry's tied together.

It was when she got to the end that she felt herself coming undone a little. She'd fallen so heavily into the world that the words summoned in her mind that she felt sorry for the Snow and felt incredible anger at the Evil Queen and her mother Cora all over again. But then she felt an incredible sense of contentment and warmth surge through her making a few tears prick at her eyes. She'd overcome so much of that evil, resentment in meeting everyone in Storybrooke who had initially been so cold and antagonistic to her in the past and letting them prove themselves to her.


End file.
